EDTECH
Bill Takes On Ads At School (Wired)
Teens With Start-Ups In Their Eyes (WP)
OWNERSHIP
FCC Changes Dual Network Rule (FCC)
INTERNET
He-Mails, She-Mails: Where Sender Meets Gender (NYT)
Congress Getting a Preview of Online Music Service (NYT)
US Share Of World's Net Users Drops - Survey (Newsbytes)
MOVIES
Studios Discuss Plan To Spur The Spread Of Digital Cinema (WSJ)
EDTECH
BILL TAKES ON ADS AT SCHOOL
Issue: Privacy
An amendment proposed by Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Chris Dodd
(D-CT) to the omnibus education bill now before the Senate would require
schools to get parental consent before marketers can collect information on
children at school. The amendment surpasses the Children's Online Privacy
and Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 in that it would regulate collecting both
personal and aggregate data such as surfing habits, rather than just
personal data such as names and addresses under current law. It also
applies to children up to 17 years old instead of COPPA's limit at age 13.
Critics like Bruce Hunter, lobbyist for the American Association of School
Administrators (AASA) support the current law as sufficient to protect kids'
privacy and say the amendment would just add to paperwork for teachers, and
could prevent kids from researching on the Web. Many nonprofits, however,
are joining the fight against the commercialization of schools. "This is a
no-brainer," said Jim Metrock, president of the nonprofit Obligation. "When
a child is forced to give up valuable and private information, parents need
to know about it," he said. "Children ought to be offered an alternative to
giving information in order to use the facilities of the schools."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Benner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,43847,00.html)
TEENS WITH START-UPS IN THEIR EYES
Issue: EdTech
The next generation of techies is carrying on the digital culture in
Washington, D.C. Kidz Online, a nonprofit organization that matches up
teenage techies with other less experienced peers to share their tech
knowledge. Kidz Online was founded by the Cruver family with their 11-year
old son Wes now the organization's Webmaster. As part of its strategy
supported by a grant from public TV station WNVT to broadcast some of its
educational content on TV and online, Kidz Online recently moved to an
eclectic new space in Herndon, VA, where teens make multimedia productions
in its high-tech studio. WNVT will begin using digital broadcasting
technology in about a year on a new interactive channel. In spite of the
economic downturn in the tech sector, Wes Carver says, "It's pretty obvious
that [technology] is not going to go away. It is in a little recession
technology-wise, but it's definitely going to go up again."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cynthia L. Webb]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37167-2001May16.html)
OWNERSHIP
FCC CHANGES DUAL NETWORK RULE
Issue: Ownership
Today, the FCC amended the "dual network" rule to permit one of the four
major television networks - ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC - to own, operate,
maintain or control the UPN and/or the WB television network.
In a Report and Order (R&O) adopted today, the FCC eliminated that part of
the dual network rule that prohibits mergers between a major network and
emerging networks UPN and WB. FCC argues that the economics of the broadcast
television network industry have changed to the point that retention of the
rule in its current form is no longer in the public interest.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/News_Releases/2001/nrmm0105.html)
INTERNET
US SHARE OF WORLD'S NET USERS DROPS - SURVEY
Issue: Digital Divide
According to an annual survey by the research firm Ipsos-Reid called "The
Face of the Web," the US share of global use of the Web fell from 40 percent
to 36 percent over the last year. The study found that the Internet is
entering a "post-revolutionary" phase where the US hyper-growth rate seems
to be leveling off and other industrialized nations show solid annual gains
in the use of the Web. Americans continue to use the Web more than other
nations, but Western Europe, Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United
Kingdom present a competitive bloc in the market, and Sweden and Canada
surpass the US in sheer numbers of Internet users. In other areas of the
world like China, India and Russia, however, one-quarter to one-third of
urban dwellers have yet to hear of the Internet. "While the Web still
affords a window on the larger world," says Gus Schattenberg, an author of
the report, "users are increasingly able to find what they need in their own
language on local sites." The number of Web users around the world grew 13
percent annually, and now reaches 350 million, and the number of women using
the 'Net is up to 44 percent from 41 percent in 1999. The study found that
South Korea and Singapore respectively have 45 and 46 percent usage rates,
and rival major European markets such as Germany at 37 percent, Belgium at
36 percent, and the UK at 35 percent.
[SOURCE: Newsbytes.com, AUTHOR: Martin Stone]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/netarch/9772-1.html)
HE-MAILS, SHE-MAILS: WHERE SENDER MEETS GENDER
Issue: Internet
As communication researchers are beginning to study the e-mail behavior of
men and women, they are finding real differences. In general, they say, the
differences seem to reflect the different ways women and women talk.
According to researchers, men, in both speech and text, incline toward a
briefer, more utilitarian style, while women are chattier and more open both
online and off. Researchers have also detected another, more surprising
trend -- that e-mail has a disinhibiting effect, enabling some men to convey
thoughts and feelings that they would find nearly impossible to say aloud.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Joyce Cohen]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/17/technology/17TALK.html)
(requires registration)
CONGRESS GETTING A PREVIEW OF ONLINE MUSIC SERVICE
Issue: Internet
Music fans are expected to get their first glimpse of a major, and legal,
online music subscription service today, as Congress convenes its third set
of hearings in less than a year on the future of digital music. Rob Glaser,
the acting chief executive of MusicNet, a joint venture of RealNetworks,
and AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and the EMI Group -- plans to demonstrate
MusicNet, which is scheduled to be offered to consumers in the late summer.
Although the pricing and packaging arrangements are still in flux, Mr.
Glaser said a typical $10
monthly subscription might include the ability to download or listen to 75
songs. "There's always a trade-off between ease of use for the consumer
standpoint and the needs of the rights holders," Mr. Glaser said. "We think
we've struck a good balance."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Amy Harmon]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/17/technology/17MUSI.html)
(requires registration)
MOVIES
STUDIOS DISCUSS PLAN TO SPUR THE SPREAD OF DIGITAL CINEMA
Issue: Movies
Four major film studios, and maybe more, are considering founding a
nonprofit organization that would help bring digital technology to the film
industry. A nonprofit organization, in the view of the studios, would
provide the means to settle long-standing differences over who in the
cash-strapped industry would pay for digital movie systems and equipment,
and would set quality standards for consistent color and picture resolution.
Walt Disney Co. is heading up the effort, with Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures
Entertainment, AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and Viacom Inc.'s
Paramount Pictures. Theater owners are fearful that new high-tech
distribution of digital technology would allow one company to monopolize as
gatekeeper over the technology, have too much control over their operations,
and might threaten security of the films themselves by beaming them over
cable or by satellite. Those studios participating in the deal would bear
the cost of the new digital equipment by contributing to a money pool in
return for stakes in the profits. Skeptics such as Michael Bennet, vice
president of Anschutz Investment Co., says the firm has no "master plan"
related to digital cinema and adds, "Like other exhibitors, we still need to
be convinced that digital projection is not simply a technological solution
in search of a problem, but that it in fact can enhance the cash flow of the
theaters."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHORS: Anna Wilde Mathews And Bruce Orwall]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB990045232145661795.htm)
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